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International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements |
by Florianne Koechlin, brochure available from IFOAM Headoffice, Oekozentrum Imsbach, D-66636 Tholey-Theley, e-mail: headoffice@ifoam.org
References and background information: www.icipe.org
Ramshorn No 27
The following report comes from Florianne Koechlin, of Basel, Switzerland, who spent a week in Kenya observing the innovative approaches of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) towards some of Africa’s key problems in agriculture.
The ICIPE specializes in biological pest control, using modern science to search for cheap and sustainable solutions to control stemborers, tsetse-flies, locust-swarms, ticks, fruitflies, anopheles-flies (vectors of malaria) etc. Their collaboration with and capacity-building of farmers is essential.
At a field station of ICIPE near Lake Victoria, the small maize (corn) field in front of us looks dreadful: the plants are only 1m high, the leaves yellow and full of holes, and there are almost no cobs at all. Close by, Mrs Ouzo, the farmer of these fields, shows us another maize field: the plants are over 2m high, with dark green leaves and healthy cobs. It’s the same maize variety on both fields, planted on exactly the same day. The difference could not be bigger.
The first maize field was destroyed by stem-borers and striga (witchweed), the two most important pests of maize and sorghum in all Africa. Stemborers [referred to in Canada as cornborers, the pest transgenic Bt corn is supposed to deal with] can destroy up to 80% of the crop in no time, the loss of crops due to striga varies from 20 to 80%. If both pests are present at the same time, they can easily destroy the whole crop.
Around the second field, Mrs Ouzo had planted 3 rows of napier-grass. ”The beauty of this grass is that its odours are attractive to stemborers”, says scientist Zeyaur R. Khan. [Remember, corn/maize is a grass.] ”The grass then produces a gummy substance that traps the pests. Only about 10% of the stemborer-larvae survive in the end”. Between the maize rows, Mrs Ouzo planted desmodium, an earth-covering plant whose odour repels stemborers. She was chosen as one of the first farmers for the project because her fields were most heavily infested by stemborers and striga.
The stemborer is attracted to napier-grass (Pennisetum purpureum) at the outside of the field and repelled by desmodium (Desmodium uncinatum) from the inside of the field. This ”push-pull” system was originally developed by ICIPE, starting with the knowledge that stemborers must have been indigenous to East Africa long before maize was introduced there (about 100 years ago). Originally, its host must have been different kinds of wild grass and only later on did it specialize in maize, which had no resistance against it and was more nutritious. For 4 years, Khan and his team selected several species of wild grass with strong stemborer-attracting odours and cultivated them in a garden near the local station. Farmers from the surroundings were invited to choose from the different varieties: they mostly preferred Napier- and Sudan-grass, which both look very similar to maize and are good fodder. Varieties of wild grass looking more like ”weed” were passed over.
The selection of ”repellent-plants” was successful, too: molasses-grass (Melinis minutiflora) reduced the loss of crop from 40% to 4 - 6%. The silver-leafed desmodium is a good stemborer-repellent, with the added advantage of being a soil-enriching, nitrogen-fixing legume that keeps the soil moist and protects it from erosion. But best of all, desmodium is most effective against Striga, to everybody’s surprise. With desmodium, striga is suppressed by a factor of 40 compared to maize monocrop. Although striga is a very beautiful weed with its pink blossoms, it is a deadly plant, being a parasite on maize roots, to say nothing of the fact that a single plant produces 20,000 tiny seeds that disperse easily. In all Africa, problems caused by Striga are increasing.
”Last year, I sold my napier-grass and desmodium as fodder for 6,000 shillings [about $100]. With this money, I could afford to pay the school fees for my kids. This year, I am planning to produce desmodium seed as well because all of my neighbours want to go for this push-pull system. Maybe I can afford a cow then”, says Mrs Ouzo. ICIPE plans to establish the push-pull system not only in further areas in Kenya, but also in Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania, in close co-operation with the national programmes.
Stemborers have natural enemies which can be used as well: five different species of stemborers exist in Africa. The most aggressive one is the spotted stemborer (Chilo partellus) which was introduced from India/Pakistan to Africa some 70 years ago, so ICIPE scientists went to India to do research in these centers of origin. They found Chilo partellus being a harmless pest kept well under control by several natural enemies. One of them is the little wasp Cotesia Flavipes Cameron: it tracks down the stemborer larvae deep inside the stem and lays its eggs into the pest; these then hatch out and consume the borer from within. After careful testing, this wasp was released on 3 sites in Kenya. By now, the wasps are well established; they not only go for Chilo partellus, but for 3 other stemborer varieties, as well. The latest results show that stemborer infestation could be reduced by 53% in these areas. ”Maize only came to East Africa some 100 years ago, and had no resistance against the stemborer. The immigrated stemborer Chilo partellus had no enemies. Any ecological balance that existed between native stemborer and wild grasses was severely disturbed. We try to reintroduce a natural equilibrium into this system”, says Bill Overholt.
I wanted to know if Cotesia flavipes could not harm other insects as well. Overholt responded, ”The host range of this wasp is limited by its searching behaviour, which restricts its hosts to stemborer larvae found tunnelling inside the stems of larger grasses. And then only certain stemborers, and only the later larvae instars of these, are suitable for the development of the wasp-parasites. We made careful evaluations, and we did not find one other insect matching all these requirements.”
ICIPE is working closely together with national programmes in Kenya, as well as in Uganda, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Zanzibar to release the wasp Cotesia in all of these countries.
A third – and very different – strategy to fight the stemborer consists in introducing genetically engineered Bt-maize. The African stemborer species are close relatives to the European corn-borer, against which the Bt-maize was constructed. The Swiss company Novartis wants to test and introduce Bt-maize in Kenya: in spring 2000, they started a 5-year program with Bt-maize, at a cost of $6.2 million, in co-operation with the Kenyan Research Institute KARE and the Latin-American CYMMIT.
This project was presented at a meeting in March in Nairobi, ”which turned into a tribunal against Hans Herren, the director of the ICIPE. They accused him of being an enemy of Africa, and of assuming Africans were incapable of handling biotechnology” (Tages-Anzeiger, 21/6/00). Klaus Leisinger, director of the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, accused Herren of having gone to the Swiss development agency to get them off GMOs. This is not true. Hans Herren is critical, but he is not a strict enemy of genetic engineering, and all he did was tell an audience of Swiss government officials about his fears: ”Possibly, transgenic maize will be part of the solution in the far future. But what about the other problems? The interesting thing about the push-pull-system is that it already exists and the farmers use it. It was developed together with the farmers. With the push-pull method, we have an integrated solution for the problems of the stemborer and striga. We have protein-rich fodder, nitrogen fertilizer and a good protection against soil erosion. All this within one field. It’s a system that’s enhancing justice and a sustainable agriculture.”
350 people work at the ICIPE, mostly Africans. The main issues for ICIPE are Africa’s most damaging pests, at costs of millions of lives (humans and animals) each year and 30% crop losses on average: the Anopheles mosquito (vector for malaria), the tsetse-fly (vector for human sleeping sickness and several fatal animal diseases, such as nagana in cattle and sura in camels), the tick, the locust, the fruit-fly (which destroys 20-80% of the mango crop each year) – and the stemborer. Useful insects are studied as well: ICIPE initiated local silk production with African silkworms and local honey production. Another main issue at the ICIPE is capacity building (from farmers to PhDs).
Interdisciplinary teams of scientists are doing pioneering work in the area of biological pest-control. They are working on insect behaviour and population ecology, they study the ways insects communicate, they analyze the odours of insects and plants, and search for the molecular conditions of vector mechanisms, they do molecular insect taxonomy and search for ways to protect – and use – the vast biodiversity. All the time, the goal is to use modern science to develop simple and efficient methods that farmers can afford. ”We are looking for solutions in nature, we want to understand the system and identify the weak links, where we can intervene. How can we favour natural enemies of the pests, what odours will attract or repel them, how can we reintroduce a better equilibrium?”, says director Hans Herren. Francois Omlin, a scientist who started to work at the ICIPE recently, confirms: ”I do not know of any other research institute worldwide working in this area in a comparable interdisciplinary way – in this place, molecular biologists are working together with behavioural scientists and entomologists. And furthermore, all of us are in close contact with the farmers.”
Hans Herren won the World Food prize in 1995 because he and his team achieved control over the cassava mealy bug that was endangering the staple crop cassava in large areas of Africa (from Senegal to Mozambique) and threatening some 300 million people. They gained control over the bug with the help of a small wasp – without chemistry, and without any extra costs for the farmers. Thoughtfully, Hans Herren says: ”Today, I probably would not get the money for such a big programme. Today, all funds go into biotechnology and genetic engineering. The genetic people would try to construct a cassava that is resistant against the mealy-bug. Biological pest-control, as we do it here at the ICIPE, is not as spectacular, not as sexy. I see a big problem here.”
References and background information: www.greenpeace.org
2.1 Background information from Greenpeace Int.
2.2 Article by Vandana Shiva
Greenpeace, ge@diala.greenpeace.org
http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng
Background Information updated 02 / 2001
International Genetic Engineering Campaign 1
”Genetically engineered (GE) rice – such as the now-famous Vitamin A rice or 'Golden Rice' – is being heavily promoted as a solution to hunger and malnutrition. Yet these promotional campaigns are clouding the real issues of poverty and control over resources, and serving to fast-track acceptance of genetically engineered crops in developing countries. (…) Vitamin A rice is a techno-fix to the problems of the poor decided upon and developed, without consultation, by scientists and experts from the North.” Joint statement to the press, 2 June 2000, by three farmer organisations from Southeast Asia (1). News about a "Golden Rice" first appeared in August 1999, when scientists announced they had succeeded in genetically engineering a rice variety to contain Beta-Carotene (or pro-Vitamin A), a compound that our body can convert into Vitamin A. The scientists said they hope that this genetically engineered (GE) rice would be an important tool to fight Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), a malnutrition problem which affects millions of people in poor countries, especially children and pregnant women. GE rice has been presented in some publications and debates as a quick and easy solution to VAD, but evidence shows that this is not the case. In the short term GE rice is the most expensive, least developed, and most ecologically dangerous way to address VAD. In the long term, the single-crop approach of GE rice may be a serious threat to food security. The biotech industry is using this rice to gain public acceptability for GE foods. Biotech companies argue that their patented crops are needed to feed the world, but this is a fundamentally flawed claim based on the false assumption that hunger exists because of a gap between food production and human population. In fact, "The world produces enough food to feed all the people who inhabit it – and it could produce even more,'' according to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) head, Jacques Diouf (2). FAO's recent food security assessment "Agriculture: Towards 2015/30" excludes genetically modified organisms yet concludes that food production will continue to increase over the period to 2030 and will continue to exceed population growth (3). This report confirms that the real causes of hunger and malnutrition are poverty and lack of access to food, issues that GE rice does not address. It is also noteworthy that seventy-eight percent of all malnourished children in the developing world live in countries with food surpluses (4). "(…) Seeking a technological food fix for world hunger may be not only the biggest scientific controversy of 1999, but also the most commercially malevolent wild goose chase of the new century. (…) The little research that has been conducted about the origins of famine reveals that the solution of ”more food” may be no solution at all." Dr Richard Horton, editor of the British science journal The Lancet (5). According to its developers, GE rice could be available for local planting in 2005 at the earliest (6) . However, this estimate would not leave sufficient time to assess its local socio-economic, health and environmental impacts. Since a variety of measures addressing the problem of Vitamin A Deficiency exist today, VAD could potentially be eradicated through existing solutions even before such GE rice evaluations reached an advanced stage. The problem is political will, not lack of solutions. Focusing on existing short and long term strategies would address the real issues of malnutrition while avoiding the problems associated with GE rice. These problems include not only technical, nutritional and environmental risks, but also corporate patents, unintended health effects and consumer acceptance.
'WHO has not received specific documentation relating to the genetic modification of Vitamin A rice, nor information relating to the safety testing of this product…It should be noted that the following items need to be considered in a broader evaluation: … health side-effects, if any, are unknown: health tests have to be conducted; the bioavailability of carotenoids included in the GM rice is unknown (digestibility in particular); consumer acceptability also needs to be investigated as the GM rice have a yellow colour'. Jorgen Schlundt, World Health Organisation (WHO), Food Safety Programme (7).
"A single nutrient approach towards a nutrition-related public health problem is usually, with the exception of perhaps iodine or selenium deficiencies, neither feasible nor desirable." John R. Lupien, FAO, Director of the Food and Nutrition Division (8). GE rice is intended to replace existing rice varieties and, if successfully introduced, it will be eaten in large quantities and might become the only staple food accessible to many. Nevertheless, as yet no health safety tests have been carried out on Vitamin A rice in any region. The health safety assessment will need to be rigorous and may become a true challenge, as it will have to ensure that no new allergenic properties (9) or other unintended metabolic changes (10) are introduced. In addition, the uptake and absorption of Pro-Vitamin A depends on many factors, including adequate intake of proteins, vitamin E, zinc, and fats. Pro-Vitamin A has to be built up to Vitamin A in the body and this process only works in the presence of fat or oil. But poor people's diets often lack fat and other key nutrients so the Pro-Vitamin A available from GE rice could be excreted undigested by many. For many groups in Asia, GE rice is disconnected from the causes of malnutrition at ground level. Farmers' own experiences of diversification show that there are many ways to address vitamin A deficiency in Asia without isolating the problem from socio-political realities. For example, encouraging the reintroduction of locally grown varieties of vegetables rich in micronutrients, including Pro-Vitamin A, has been successful in Bangladesh and Thailand (11). It should be pointed out that the industrial model of agriculture is seen by many as a reason for malnutrition and the lack of a diverse diet. (See Appendix B: Vitamin A Deficiency). According to the non-profit foundation Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN), ”The Green Revolution paradigm of market driven, industrial agriculture that genetic engineering is an extension of, has reduced agricultural biodiversity, and, as a result, dietary diversity, thus increasing micronutrient malnutrition among the poor." "The tragedy is that the local varieties this model of agriculture destroys are an excellent source of not only vitamin A but also a whole host of other nutrients, in the very countries that suffer from malnutrition. Dietary diversification would provide a sustainable, equitable solution to malnutrition.” (12)
”Like other academic scientists, [Vit. A Rice inventor] Potrykus was allowed to use patented technology in his research without fear of being sued. That’s common practice. But releasing the rice into international commerce is a more serious step, one more likely to raise objections from patent holders” The Washington Post, August 4, 2000 (13). In May 2000, GE rice inventors announced a deal under which AstraZeneca – a UK-based international pharmaceuticals and biotech group with (1999 pro forma) sales of $18.5 billion (14) – will license and distribute the crop (15). Despite the fact that it was presented as an "agreement [which] should help assure that ‘Golden Rice’ reaches those people it can help most as quickly as possible" (16) , the deal clearly has a commercial base. The multinational company announced it intends to sell GE rice commercially while allowing free distribution and use only to those farmers in developing countries whose yearly profit is lower than a specific ceiling. It is unclear if the announcement is legally binding or if AstraZeneca may still modify the final agreement (17). The Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP), in a June 2000 statement to the press, asked: "Why should anyone believe that this is for the poor when Zeneca (18) has made it clear that their motive is to make money from the technology in the North?" (19) It should be noted that Vitamin A rice research was financed by public funds (See Appendix A: Genetically Engineered Vitamin A Rice). A principal concern of GE rice is that it is patented by northern companies that do not allow GE seeds to be saved like traditional seeds. Farmers are required to buy new GE seed each year. But in the developing world, most household farms rely upon saved seed for the next year’s crop (20). The problem is more complex in this case because the GE rice inventors used a series of patents held by private companies, and ”as many as 32 companies and institutions hold 70 patents that cover technologies used in the creation of golden rice,” according to the Washington Post (21). Legally binding deals with all these patent holders have to be arranged in order to prevent them from claiming licences to the patents. Such claims may make GE rice much more expensive than expected.
"We must recognize that our knowledge of the processes that regulate gene incorporation and expression are in their infancy and that our capacity to manipulate the plant genome is crude." Patrick Brown, Professor, College of Agriculture & Environmental Science, University of California (22). Only a few grains of GE rice exist in the lab and no field tests have been carried out to assess the performance and stability of the genetic construct when combined with other rice varieties. It is a common observation that transgenic plants, while they may perform well in laboratories, fail in nature, especially if – like GE rice – they contain not one but three added gene-constructs. Documented failures include Monsanto's GE soy. This crop, called Roundup Ready soy, showed splitting stems and up to 40 percent yield reduction under growth conditions with high soil temperatures (23). Another example of unexpected problems came from GE herbicide-tolerant tobacco plants when many of these GE plants did not survive spraying with the herbicide in the field after surviving the spraying in the greenhouse (24).
"IRRI's promotion of heavy herbicide use in rice farming wiped out the native green vegetables that are the poor people's sources of vitamin A, and the fish, frogs, shells and crickets that provide the 50 million rural poor with protein, and now [Filipino] people have to spend more of their shrinking incomes on costly food." Rafael Mariano, Filipino Peasant farmers union chair. Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (25). According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), ”Given the occurrence and environmental persistence of hybrids between cultivated and wild or weedy rices, the extensive amount of land that may eventually be planted to transgenic rice, and the large populations of wild and weedy rices in many rice growing areas, it must be assumed that transgenes will escape to wild and weedy relatives.” (26) It is unclear if Vitamin A rice would attract more pests because of its nutritional trait. But it must be assumed that its transgenes will escape into the environment (27) with unknown consequences. Large scale growing of GE rice could lead to massive gene flow to wild and other locally unique varieties of rice and could contribute to the already alarming genetic uniformity of rice in Asia – and its negative impact on food security. In Asia, where rice is the major staple, ”a dark cloud of genetic uniformity is already gripping Asian fields today with production being confined to only a few varieties,” the Filipino group MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development) warned recently (28). ”This is a very dangerous situation for farmers and food security since it increases dependence on toxic chemicals and genetic engineers to help defend crops against inherent weaknesses of biological uniformity.” (29) In the words of Devinder Sharma, President of the New Delhi-based Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security, ”the golden rice in question is an ecological and health hazard. Nor is it the answer to the nutritional needs of the small producers and poverty-stricken masses in the south. ” ”If you can't help the poor in the south, please do not add to their multitude of existing problems, ” wrote Sharma in a recent letter to the editor published in the Financial Times (30).
It is generally acknowledged that the introduction of a yellow-coloured rice could pose considerable acceptance problems with consumers and farmers. It could easily be stigmatised as the rice for the poor while the rich continue to eat the white rice. Ensuring acceptance would require massive and locally adapted educational and marketing campaigns in order to change consumer habits, especially those of poor farmers and poor urban populations – those most affected by VAD. Development agencies, governments and NGOs presently working on VAD would have to be involved in these future efforts, and would be further distracted from effective programmes. The huge sums needed for such campaigns on Vitamin A rice could have a much broader and lasting effect on malnutrition if they were spent on diet diversification programmes.
When explaining why Vitamin A Deficiency has not yet been eradicated, agencies that are involved in the battle against micronutrient deficiencies – such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) – most often mention the lack of political commitment and of funding for existing solutions. According to the WHO, eradicating VAD ”is therefore a test case of political will, and managerial capacity to implement known technologies and known solutions.” (31) Short term and interim measures, such as fortification of food and administration of Vitamin A supplements, are available at minimal costs and are underway in some 80 countries world-wide. Long term solutions based on access to a diverse and Vitamin A-rich diet exist too (32). Vitamin A Deficiency is a major cause of total blindness and night blindness, and it also exacerbates the effects of measles, tuberculosis, diarrhoea and other illnesses. The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 230 million children, mainly in Asia and Africa, are at risk of clinical or sub-clinical VAD and that over one million VAD-related deaths occur each year. Eliminating Vitamin A Deficiency could reduce childhood mortality by 25%. To date, it is estimated that Vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem in 96 countries, 83 of which have reported data to the World Health Organisation. Africa and South-East Asia have the highest numbers of clinically affected (33). The elimination of VAD and all its consequences, including blindness, was adopted as a goal for the end of the year 2000 by the 1990 World Summit for Children and reiterated by the International Conference on Nutrition in 1992. Progress has been made to this end. The WHO reports that the number of young children with total blindness has fallen by about two-thirds in the past 20 years (34). UNICEF estimates that there was a 40 percent decline in VAD prevalence between 1988 and 1998 (35). Examples of successful VAD reduction and eradication, in particular in the case of acute clinical VAD, seem to confirm this progress. Some countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, have virtually eliminated total blindness over recent years. According to the WHO, governments of 30 countries where VAD signs are strong have not implemented comprehensive plans to solve the problem and in some cases they have not even evaluated the extent of the problem. Some countries started national programmes to fight VAD only recently and the situation in many sub-Saharan countries appears alarming. It should be noted that war, displacement and natural catastrophes frequently create malnutrition crises of all kinds. The World Bank estimates that supplementation and fortification interventions to prevent the three most prevalent micronutrient deficiencies (iron, iodine and vitamin A) can be done at a total cost of 1 US Dollar per person a year. Costs for a delivery of a single capsule of vitamin A can be as low as 2 Cents of a Dollar when added to other immunisation efforts. The World Bank also says that economic and social payoffs from micronutrient programs reach as high as 84 times the program costs and concludes that ”Few other development programs offer such high social and economic payoffs.” (36) This means that existing solutions are effective and worth investing in now.
Genetically Engineered rice does not address the underlying causes of VAD, which are mainly poverty and lack of access to a more diverse diet. This rice is an untested and superficial technological fix that may generate new problems. · Vitamin A rice could, if introduced on a large scale, exacerbate malnutrition and ultimately undermine food security because it encourages a diet based on one staple rather than the re-introduction of the many vitamin-rich food plants that were once cheap and readily available. These plants would address a wide variety of micronutriet deficiencies, not just VAD. · Cheap and effective means of combating Vitamin A Deficiency currently exist and focusing on GE rice could undermine such established initiatives. · Millions of dollars have been poured into research for GE rice, and much more will be needed before it stands a chance of becoming widely available. It would be much more cost-effective to allocate those funds to existing strategies (See Appendix C: Existing strategies to fight Vitamin A Deficiency), i.e. promoting locally appropriate and ecologically sustainable agriculture and diet diversification programmes. GE Rice, like other genetically modified organisms (GMOs) released into the environment, is a form of living pollution and its environmental impact is not only unpredictable and uncontrollable but also irreversible.
Plans to bring Vitamin A rice from the laboratory to the field and subsequently to the victims of VAD are still in their infancy. GE rice inventors say the rice would be available for local planting and consumption in 2005 at the earliest and general breeding experience suggests that it would take at least four to five years to produce marketable seed varieties. In 1991, research groups in Zurich (a team led by Dr. Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and Freiburg, Germany (Beier et. al) developed the idea of introducing Beta-carotene into the grain (endosperm) of rice, in order to try to convert this staple crop into a source of vitamin A in VAD affected areas (37). In January 2000 the group of scientists published its results in Science (38). Researchers genetically engineered a laboratory variety of japonica rice (Taipei 309, adapted to temperate weather in Europe rather than to tropical areas) and introduced in it a metabolic pathway so that part of a precursor of a hormone (geranyl geranyl diphosphate) present in rice is converted into Beta-carotene (39). The research team also inserted three foreign genes in the rice: two from daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) and one from the bacterium Erwinia uredovor. In January 2000 the scientists reported that they had achieved their goal of creating the first samples of Beta-carotene-rich lines of rice (40). The major donor of the GE rice project over the past six years was the Rockefeller Foundation, which supported the GE rice research as part of its 100 million-Dollar rice biotechnology programme. Additional funds also came from the European Union’s Biotechnology programme FAIR (41), the Swiss federal office for Education and Science and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. According to Prof. Potrykus, his team intends to co-operate with International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) – including the Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the India-based ICRISAT, the China based CNRRI and the Colombia-based CIAT – where further cross-breeding and field tests will be carried out. IRRI, together with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), is set to transfer the trait to other varieties as soon as its application receives the approval of the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines. The genetically engineered trait would have to be transferred to predominant indica rice varieties used in Asia. Gary Toennissen of the Rockefeller Foundation announced that the transgenic rice would be combined with new high-yield varieties developed by IRRI in the Philippines (42). IRRI plans to insert the trait into high yield varieties – such as IR64 – which are widely grown in friendly, irrigated environments (43).
Vitamin A deficiency is one of several micronutrient deficiencies that have plagued humankind over centuries and which still pose a massive public health problem. Other micronutrient problems include deficiencies in Iron (anemia), Zinc, Iodine (goiter), Vitamin D, Riboflavin, Selenium, and Calcium. Vitamin A deficiency is a disease of the poor, of those who have only access to little or very little food. It is part of the "hidden hunger" which, according to some estimates, affects as many as two billion citizens around the world. "Because people for the most part are not aware that their diets are lacking in this trace nutrients and hence do not associate these deficiencies with listlessness, poor eyesight, impaired cognitive development and physical growth, and more severe bouts of illness (sometimes leading to death), this general problem of poor dietary quality has been dubbed "hidden hunger" Bouis H.E. 1995. Breeding for nutrition (44). The number of people affected by ”hidden hunger” (those who may appear to get enough to eat but in fact lack adequate micronutrients and fats) is two and half times larger than the 800 million undernourished people world-wide (45). While most forms of "hidden hunger" have been overcome in industrialised countries over the past century, they still remain a major source of health problems in developing countries. Mineral and vitamin deficiencies affect some 40% of the world’s population and have their most devastating effects on children and pregnant women. Vitamin A Deficiency can lead to total blindness (or xerophthalmia) in children and to night-blindness: at least 350 000 pre-school children become partially or totally blind every year due to Vitamin A Deficiency. 14 million pre-school children already have some eye damage due Vitamin A Deficiency. About 60% of these children die within a few months of going blind. Among the children under 5 years of age affected by Vitamin A Deficiency, some 3 million have signs of total blindness. Nevertheless, most of the children affected by VAD – between 140 and 250 million – present only subclinical manifestations, yet live with a greater risk of mortality and the risk of being susceptible to severe infections (46). Vitamin A deficiency is also common in pregnant women. Recent studies have shown that pregnant women who are vitamin A deficient are at a greater risk of dying during or shortly after delivery and that weekly, low-dose supplements given to women during pregnancy can reduce maternal mortality by 50% (47). VAD also weakens the immune system thus considerably increasing child but also adult mortality from infectious diseases. According to the World Health Organisation, about 250 million children are sub-clinically deficient (have low levels of Vitamin A in blood but no eye symptoms) (48). VAD contributes to the estimated 1.1 million childhood deaths from measles every year (49). It has also been associated with increased susceptibility to Malaria (50) and HIV/AIDS transmission of mothers to babies (51). While Vitamin A was only identified in 1913, Vitamin A deficiency has been fought long before and has practically eradicated in Europe during the early decades of the 20th century. However, it was only in the mid 80s that Vitamin A’s crucial role for the immune system and the association of VAD with child mortality were identified and acknowledged. In the ’90s the international community pledged in a series of conferences to eradicate VAD by the year 2000 (52) (53). Massive programmes of fortification and supplementation with Vitamin A have been started over the past years. According to the WHO, vitamin A supplement coverage among children or widespread access to fortified foods was greater than 50% in about 30 countries affected by VAD in 1997. In 1998, 40% of the 96 countries where VAD is a public health problem included Vitamin A supplements in their national immunisation days. However, measures to improve dietary intake by increasing production of vitamin A-rich foods or facilitating access to them are still limited. Nearly 30% of the countries where VAD is likely to be a public health problem have not yet estimated the magnitude of the deficiency and therefore have not yet developed strategies for action (54).
The fight against VAD has actually received substantial funding from international agencies, foundations, donors, governments and businesses over recent years. However, the goal of eradicating VAD is still far from being reached. Out of the 96 countries in which VAD was identified as a public health problem in the early 1990s only 30 have managed to eradicate VAD. The 1992 "World Declaration and the Plan of Action on Nutrition" (55), unanimously adopted by 159 countries at the International Conference on Nutrition jointly organised by FAO and WHO, emphasised inter alia that strategies to combat micronutrient malnutrition should: "Ensure that sustainable food-based strategies are given first priority particularly for populations deficient in vitamin A and iron, favouring locally available foods and taking into account local food habits". The declaration also added that "Supplementation should be progressively phased out as soon as micronutrient-rich food-based strategies enable adequate consumption of micronutrients. " There are three strategies to ensure sufficient Vitamin A levels in vulnerable populations: Supplementation, food fortification and dietary diversification. All of them play an important role in present efforts.
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Supplementation: Periodically handing out oral doses of synthetic Vitamin A to children and mothers can be a cost-effective emergency intervention, especially when coupled with other immunisation programmes. It is however not a long-term solution, especially for less visible sub-clinical levels of VAD. |
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Food fortification: Adding Vitamin A to processed food such as butter, margarine and sugar is also effective in populations with regular access to processed food. This measure has been implemented successfully in most industrialised countries over the past 70 years. It requires co-operation with food processors and appropriate strategies to reach the populations most in need. |
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3. |
Dietary education and diversification: It is broadly recognised as the best long-term solution. It requires diverse and locally adapted efforts as well as co-operation with all stakeholders involved. A variety of programmes promoting access to and use of freely accessible or cheap sources of vitamin A as well as other micronutrients have proved to be highly efficient. In order to eliminate VAD and related micronutrient deficiencies, access to Vitamin A-rich food is the only sustainable long-term solution. For new-borns, breastmilk is usually the only source of Vitamin A. Accordingly, promoting breastfeeding and ensuring sufficiently high Vitamin A levels in breastfeeding mothers are an essential part of any VAD reduction strategy. Animal products are rich in Vitamin A that can be directly absorbed by the human body. Many fruits, vegetables and other green plants, such as carrots or drumstick leaves, contain sufficient amounts of Beta-Carotene which is then converted by the human body into Vitamin A. Two tablespoons of carrots contain enough Beta Carotene to cover our daily needs. |
A diet rich in Vitamin A and other micronutrients is a luxury for millions of poor, not because such foods are not available in their countries, but because they cannot afford them and/or have no access to them. This is a problem that GE rice would not solve.
For further information on this subject please contact: ge@diala.greenpeace.org or visit http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/
1) Joint statement to the press, 2 June 2000, by three national organisations from Southeast Asia – BIOTHAI (Thai Network on Biodiversity and Community Rights), KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines), and MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development, Philippines)
2) "UN Seeks To Replace Food Aid With Food Security?" By Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency correspondent Judith Achieng', Nairobi, August 24, 2000 available at www.ips.org
3) "Food and population: FAO looks ahead" available at www.fao.org/news/2000/000704-e.htm
4) Lappe, F, J Collins & P Rosset (1998) World Hunger: 12 Myths p9
5) ”Genetically modified food: consternation, confusion, and crack-up” article by Dr. R Horton, Editor, The Lancet (U.K.), published on the internet by The Medical Journal of Australia: http://www.mja.com.au
6) Press release of 01/22/01 issued by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Rockefeller Foundation and Syngenta: "International Rice Research Institute Begins Testing 'Golden Rice'"
7) Fax communication from Jorgen Schlundt, World Health Organisation Food Safety Programme sent on 04.02.00 to Kathy Anderson, ActionAid U.K.
8) http://www.blauen-institut.ch/Pg/pT/ptVA/pt_v06FaoVAdOvervw.html quoting Final Summary Report, FAO, 1996
9) Nestle M. (1996) Allergies to transgenic foods – Question of policy, The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 334, No 11: 726-728
10) Firn, R.D. & Jones, C.G. (1999) Secondary metabolism and the risks of GMOs. Nature 400:13-14
11) Joint statement to the press, 2 June 2000, by three national organisations from Southeast Asia – BIOTHAI (Thai Network on Biodiversity and Community Rights), KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines), and MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development, Philippines)
12) GRAIN, 2/2000, Engineering solutions to malnutrition, available at: http://www.grain.org/publications/reports/malnutrition.htm
13) The Washington Post online, August 4,2000 article ”Monsanto Offers Patent Waiver”, available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33142-2000Aug3.html
14) See http://www.astrazeneca.com/ for more information on AstraZeneca
15) Press release "Golden Rice", may 16th, 2000 by greenovation available at http://www.greenovation.com/news.html
16) Press release "Golden Rice", may 16th, 2000 by greenovation available at http://www.greenovation.com/news.html
17) Also, it is difficult to predict who will be accountable for the agreement in the future, as the biotech industry is rapidly concentrating. On September 18, 2000 AstraZeneca announced it was going ahead with the merger of its agrochemicals business with the agribusiness of Novartis AG, a Switzerland-based multinational, to form a company called Syngenta AG. Press release available at http://www.astrazeneca.com/NewsSection/NewsReleases/180900_1.htm
18) Zeneca Agrochemicals is the "crop protection and plant science" business of AstraZeneca and the fourth largest supplier in this market, with sales in 1999 of $ 2.7 billion in over 130 countries
19) Joint statement to the press, 2 June 2000, by three national organisations from Southeast Asia – BIOTHAI (Thai Network on Biodiversity and Community Rights), KMP (Peasant Movement of the Philippines), and MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development, Philippines)
20) 1.4 billion people are estimated to live in farm families that are still largely self-provisioning in terms of their planting materials or seeds, according to "Plant Genetic Resources and Seed Relief" Toby Hodgkin, IPGRI.& Murthi Anishetty, FAO. 7/7/99, pg 1.available at http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agps/norway/paper4.htm
21) The Washington Post online, August 4,2000 article ”Monsanto Offers Patent Waiver”, available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33142-2000Aug3.html
22) The Promise of Plant Biotechnology – The Threat of Genetically International Genetic Engineering Campaign 11; Modified Organisms, July 2000, Patrick Brown, Professor, College of Agriculture & Environmental Science, University of California. available from Ag BioTech InfoNet at http://www.biotech-info.net/biotech_promise.html and from New Zealand Life Sciences Network at http://www.lifesciencenz.com/repository/external_news_material/promise_opponent.htm
23) Coghlan A (1999b), Splitting headache. Monsanto’s modified soya beans are cracking up in the heat. New Scientist, 20 Nov. 1999, p. 25
24) Brandle, J.E., McHugh, S.G., James, L., Labbe, H., and Miki, B.L., 1995. Instability of Transgene expression in Field Grown Tobacco Carrying the csr-1-1 Gene for Sulphonylurea Herbicide Resistance, Bio/Technology Vol. 13, pp 994-998
25) Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Peasant Movement of the Philippines press release, 10 March 2000, http://www.geocities.com/kmp_ph
26) IRRI, 'Predicting the environmental impact of transgene outcrossing to wild and weedy rices in Asia' Gene Flow and Agriculture: relevance for transgenic crops 1999
27) IRRI, 'Predicting the environmental impact of transgene outcrossing to wild and weedy rices in Asia' Gene Flow and Agriculture: relevance for transgenic crops 1999
28) ”GE Rice: Asian farmers have everything to lose”. Article published in the special May 2000 edition of Suhay, the official newsletter of MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development, Philippines)
29) ”GE Rice: Asian farmers have everything to lose”. Article published in the special May 2000 edition of Suhay, the official newsletter of MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development, Philippines)
30) Devinder Sharma, President, Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security, New Delhi, in a letter to the editor, Financial Times, London, May 31, 2000
31) WHO, Vitamin A Deficiency, http://www.who.int/vaccines-diseases/diseases/vitamin_a.htm
32) See Appendix C: Existing strategies to fight Vitamin A Deficiency
33) WHO, Malnutrition - The Global Picture, http://www.who.int/nut/malnutrition_worldwide.htm#vad
33) Wolf G.A history of vitamin A and retinoids. FASEB J 1996; 10:1102-7
34) Vitamin A – the good news, Donald McLaren highlights recent developments, http://www.who.int/chd/publications/newslet/dialog/9/vitamin_a.htm
35) Opportunities for Micronutrient Interventions – The OMNI experience: Using global lessons to move local programs, 1993-1998, final report, http://www.jsi.com/intl/omni/finlrep3.htm
36) Micronutrient interventions are among the most cost-effective investments in the health sector. (...) Addressing micronutrient deficiencies globally will require an estimated $1 billion per year-about US $1 per affected person. That figure is equivalent to the economic costs of endemic deficiencies of vitamin A, iodine, and iron in a single country of 50 million people. Most of these costs will ultimately be borne by consumers when purchasing food with higher nutritional quality. In the short run, however, donors and governments may have to assume a major financial burden for project preparation, start-up costs, and recurrent costs in the early years. The economic and social payoffs from micronutrient programs reach as high as 84 times the program costs. Few other development programs offer such high social and economic payoffs. http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/hnp/hddflash/issues/00073.html
37) GRAIN, 2/2000, Engineering solutions to malnutrition http://www.grain.org/publications/reports/malnutrition.htm
38) Xudong Ye et al (2000), "Engineering the Provitamin A (Beta-carotene) Biosynthetic Pathway into (Carotenoid-Free) Rice Endosperm", Science, Vol. 287, 14 January 2000, pp. 303-305
39) GRAIN, 2/2000, Engineering solutions to malnutrition http://www.grain.org/publications/reports/malnutrition.htm
40) Xudong Ye et al (2000), "Engineering the Provitamin A (Beta-carotene) Biosynthetic Pathway into (Carotenoid-Free) Rice Endosperm", Science, Vol. 287, 14 January 2000, pp. 303-305
41) http://www.nf-2000.org/secure/Fair/S492.htm
42) Rice Laced With Vitamin A Created, Los Angeles Times View Related Topics January 14, 2000
43) GRAIN, 2/2000, Engineering solutions to malnutrition http://www.grain.org/publications/reports/malnutrition.htm
44) Bouis H.E. 1995. Breeding for nutrition. Journal of the Federation of American Scientist. Vol.48 No.4. available at: http://www.fas.org/faspir/pir0895.html
45) State of the World 2000, Earthscan, 2000 p59; source – WHO
46) WHO, Malnutrition – The Global Picture, http://www.who.int/nut/malnutrition_worldwide.htm#vad
47) Helen Keller Foundation: http://www.hki.org
48) WHO factsheet on Vitamin A deficiency, http://www.who.int/vaccines-diseases/diseases/vitamin_a.htm#intro
49) WHO factsheet on Vitamin A deficiency, http://www.who.int/vaccines-diseases/diseases/vitamin_a.htm#intro
50) Shankar AH et al. Effect of vitamin A supplementation on morbidity due to Plasmodium falciparum in young children in Papua New Guinea: a randomised trial. The Lancet, 1999, 354: 203–209
51) Semba, R.D., Miotti, P.G., Chiphangwi, J.D., Saah, A.J., Canner, J.K., Dallabetta, G.A., and Hoover, D.R. 1994. Maternal vitamin A deficiency and mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1. Lancet, 343, 1593-1597 Semba, R.D. 1994. Vitamin A, immunity, and infection. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 19, 489-499
52) World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition. 1992 http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/ESN/icn.htm, International Genetic Engineering Campaign 12
53) "1990 World Summit for Children, the 1992 International Conference on Nutrition, and the 1996 World Food Summit. Over 159 countries and the European Union pledged to virtually eliminate iodine and vitamin A deficiencies by the year 2000 and reduce by one third the 1990 levels of iron deficiency anemia in pregnant women. Participants in these forums reiterated the need for societies to surmount the costs of malnutrition, especially when both scientific knowledge and realizable programs were available (2, 89). Of the 108 World Health Organization (WHO) member states represented at the conferences, at least 53 with identified micronutrient problems have national nutrition plans of action that specifically address public health micronutrient issues (WHO global data bank: Implementation of the World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition, 1997). In planning new actions, these states have followed advice from internationally generated documents (23, 79, 100, 104) and suggestions made by international consultants. Some countries reexamined their existing national plans and updated their policies in view of long-term goals. Global investment has provided support for assessment and interventions in countries with populations presumed deficient (2)." Source: Underwood B.A., and S. Smitasiri, 1999, Annual Review of Nutrition; Vol. 19; p. 303 Micronutrient malnutrition: Policies and programs for control and their implications.
54) WHO, Malnutrition – The Global Picture, http://www.who.int/nut/malnutrition_worldwide.htm#vad
55) World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition. 1992. available at http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/ESN/icn.htm
by Dr. Vandana Shiva
Golden rice has been heralded as the miracle cure for malnutrition and hunger of which 800m members of the human community suffer.
Herbicide resistant and toxin producing genetically engineered plants can be objectionable because of their ecological and social costs. But who could possibly object to rice engineered to produce vitamin A, a deficiency found in nearly 3 million children, largely in the Third World?
As remarked by Mary Lou Guerinot, the author of the Commentary on Vit. A rice in Science,
One can only hope that this application of plant genetic engineering to ameliorate human misery without regard to short term profit will restore this technology to political acceptability.
Unfortunately, Vitamin A rice is a hoax, and will bring further dispute to plant genetic engineering where public relations exercises seem to have replaced science in promotion of untested, unproven and unnecessary technology.
The problem is that vit. A rice will not remove vit. A deficiency (VAD). It will seriously aggravate it. It is a technology that fails in its promise.
Currently, it is not even known how much vit. JA the genetically engineered rice will produce. The goal is 33.3% micrograms/100g of rice. Even if this goal is reached after a few years, it will be totally ineffective in removing VAD.
Since the daily average requirement of vit. A is 750 micrograms of vit. A and 1 serving contains 30g of rice according to dry weight basis, vit. A rice would only provide 9.9 micrograms which is 1.32% of the required allowance. Even taking the 100g figure of daily consumption of rice used in the technology transfer paper would only provide 4.4% of the RDA.
In order to meet the full needs of 750 micrograms of vit. A from rice, an adult would have to consume 2kg 272g of rice per day. This implies that one family member would consume the entire family ration of 10 kg. from the PDS in 4 days to meet vit. A needs through ”Golden rice”.
This is a recipe for creating hunger and malnutrition, not solving it.
Besides creating vit. A deficiency, vit. A rice will also create deficiency in other micronutrients and nutrients. Raw milled rice has a low content of Fat (0.5g/100g). Since fat is necessary for vit. A uptake, this will aggravate vit. A deficiency. It also has only 6.8g/100g of protein, which means less carrier molecules. It has only 0.7g/100g of iron, which plays a vital role in the conversion of Betacarotene (precursor of vit. A found in plant sources) to vit. A.
A far more efficient route to removing vit. A deficiency is biodiversity conservation and propagation of naturally vit. A rich plants in agriculture and diets.
Table 1 gives sources rich in vit. A used commonly in Indian foods.
Source |
Hindi Name |
Content
|
|
Amaranth leaves |
Chauli saag |
266-1,166 |
|
Coriander leaves |
Dhania |
1,166-1,333 |
|
Cabbage |
Bandh gobi |
217 |
|
Curry leaves |
Curry patta |
1,333 |
|
Drumstick leaves |
Saijan patta |
1,283 |
|
Fenugreek leaves |
Methi-ka-saag |
450 |
|
Radish leaves |
Mooli-ka-saag |
750 |
|
Mint |
Pudhina |
300 |
|
Spinach |
Palak saag |
600 |
|
Carrot |
Gajar |
217-434 |
|
Pumpkin (yellow) |
Kaddu |
100-120 |
|
Mango (ripe) |
Aam |
500 |
|
Jackfruit |
Kathal |
54 |
|
Orange |
Santra |
35 |
|
Tomato (ripe) |
Tamatar |
32 |
|
Milk (cow, buffalo) |
Doodh |
50-60 |
|
Butter |
Makkhan |
720-1,200 |
|
Egg (hen) |
Anda |
300-400 |
|
Liver (Goat, sheep) |
Kalegi |
6,600 – 10,000 |
|
Cod liver oil |
10,000 – 100,000 |
Inspite of the diversity of plants evolved and bred for their rich vit. A content, a report of the Major Science Academies of the World – Royal Society, U.K., National Academy of Sciences of the USA, The Third World Academy of Science, Indian National Science Academy, Mexican Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Brazilian Academy of Sciences – on Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture has stated,
Vit. A deficiency causes half a million children to become partially or totally blind each year. Traditional breeding methods have been unsuccessful in producing crops containing a high vit. A concentration and most national authorities rely on expensive and complicated supplementation programs to address the problem. Researchers have introduced three new genes into rice, two from daffodils and one from a microorganism. The transgenic rice exhibits an increased production of betacarotene as a precursor to vit. A and the seed in yellow in colour. Such yellow, or golden rice, may be a useful tool to help treat the problem of vit. A deficiency in young children living in the tropics.
It appears as if the world’s top scientists suffer a more severe form of blindness than children in poor countries. The statement that ”traditional breeding has been unsuccessful in producing crops high in vit. A” is not true given the diversity of plants and crops that Third World farmers, especially women have bred and used which are rich sources of vit. A such as coriander, amaranth, carrot, pumpkin, mango, jackfruit.
It is also untrue that vit. A rice will lead to increased production of betacarotene. Even if the target of 33.3 microgram of vit. A in 100g of rice is achieved, it will be only 2.8% of betacarotene we can obtain from amaranth leaves 2.4% of betacarotene obtained from coriander leaves, curry leaves and drumstick leaves.
Even the World Bank has admitted that rediscovering and use of local plants and conservation of vit. A rich green leafy vegetables and fruits have dramatically reduced VAD threatened children over the past 20 years in very cheap and efficient ways. Women in Bengal use more than 200 varieties of field greens. Over a 3 million people have benefited greatly from a food based project for removing VAD by increasing vit. A availability through home gardens. The higher the diversity crops the better the uptake of pro-vitamin A.
The reason there is vit. A deficiency in India in spite of the rich biodiversity a base and indigenous knowledge base in India is because the Green Revolution technologies wiped out biodiversity by converting mixed cropping systems to monocultures of wheat and rice and by spreading the use of herbicides which destroy field greens.
In spite of effective and proven alternatives, a technology transfer agreement has been signed between the Swiss Government and the Government of India for the transfer of genetically engineered vit. A rice to India. The ICAR, ICMR, ICDS, USAID, UNICEF, WHO have been identified as potential partners. The breeding and transformation is to be carried out at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack and Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and University of Delhi, South Campus.
The Indian varieties in which the vit. A traits are expected to be engineered have been identified as IR 64, Pusa Basmati, PR 114 and ASD 16.
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan has been identified as ”God father” to ensuring public acceptance of genetically engineered rice. DBT & ICAR are also potential partners for guaranteeing public acceptance and steady progress of the project.
Genetically engineered vit. A rice will aggravate this destruction since it is part of an industrial agriculture, intensive input package. It will also lead to major water scarcity since it is a water intensive crop and displaces water prudent sources of vit. A.
The first step in the technology transfer of vit. A rice requires a need assessment and an assessment of technology availability. One assessment shows that vit. A rice fails to pass the need test.
The technology availability issue is related to whether the various elements and methods used for the construction of transgenic crop plants are covered by intellectual property rights. Licenses for these rights need to be obtained before a product can be commercialised. The Cornell based ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application) has been identified as the partner for ensuring technology availability by ensuring technology availability by having material transfer agreements signed between the representative authority of the ICAR and the ”owners” of the technology, Prof. I. Potrykus and Prof. P. Beyer.
In addition, Novartis and Kirin Breweries have patents on the genes used as constructs for the vit. A rice.
At a public hearing on Biotechnology at U.S. Congress on 29th June 2000, Astra-Zeneca stated they would be giving away royalty free licenses for the development of ”Golden rice”.
At a workshop organised by the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Dr. Barry of Monsanto’s Rice Genome initiative announced that it will provide royalty-free licenses for all its technologies that can help the further development of ”golden rice”.
Hence these gene giants Novartis, Astra-Zeneca and Monsanto are claiming exclusive ownership to the basic patents related to rice research. Further, neither Monsanto nor Astra-Zeneca said they will give up their patents on rice – they are merely giving royalty free licenses to public sector scientists for development of ”golden rice”. This is an arrangement for a public subsidy to corporate giants for R&D since they do not have the expertise or experience with rice breeding which public institutions have. Not giving up the patents, but merely giving royalty free licenses implies that the corporations like Monsanto would ultimately like to collect royalties from farmers for rice varieties developed by public sector research systems. Monsanto has stated that it expects long term gains from these IPR arrangements, which implies markets in rice as ”intellectual property” which cannot be saved or exchanged for seed. The real test for Monsanto would be its declaration of giving up any patent claims to rice now and in the future and joining the call to remove plants and biodiversity out of TRIPS. Failing such an undertaking by Monsanto the announcement that Monsanto giving royalty free licenses for development of vit. A rice like the rice itself can only be taken as a hoax to establish monopoly over rice production, and reduce rice farmers of India into bio-serfs.
While the complicated technology transfer package of ”Golden Rice” will not solve vit. A problems in India, it is a very effective strategy for corporate take over of rice production, using the public sector as a Trojan horse.
Five Fascinating Projects in Organic Research
Botrytis (gray molde) is one of the worst starwberry-pests. When bees or bumble-bees leave their hives, they tripple through a 'footbath' with an organic fungicide (an antagonist). While pollinating the blossoms, they deposit the antagonists precisely where they need to be. This gives up to 50% more strawberries.
- Kovach J, Petzoldt R and Harman GE (2000) Use of Honey Bees and Bumble Bees to Disseminate Trichoderma harzianum 1295-22 to Strawberries for Botrytis Control. Biological Control 18, 3: 235-242
- Sutton J. (1994) Biological Control of Strawberry Diseases. Advances in Strawberry Research. 13: 1-11
- Joseph Kovach, Ohio State University, USA, Tel. 001 330 263 3846, E-mail: kovach.49@osu.edu
- Eric Wyss, FiBL, Frick,CH; Tel.: +41 62 865 72 40, E-mail: eric.wyss@fibl.ch
A tomatoe plant warns its neighbours with special scents and starts to produce defense-molecules. In no time all neighboring plants are warned.
- Farmer EE, Ryan CA (1990) Interplant communication: airborne methyl jasmonate induces synthesis of proteinase inhibitors in plant leaves. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 87: 7713-7716
- Thomma Bart PHJ, Eggermont K, Penninckx IAMA, Mauch Mani B, Vogelsang R, Cammue BPA, Broekaert WF (1998). Separate jasmonate-dependent and salicylate-dependent defense-response pathways in Arabidopsis are essential for resistance to distinct microbial pathogens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Dec. 95: 15107-15111
Ted Turlings, Université de Neuchâtel, CH, Tel: +41 32 718 31 58, E-mail: Ted.Turlings@zool.unine.ch
http://www.spb.wau.nl/oc/research/phytochemistry/cindy/index.htm
- De Moraes CM, Paré PW, Alborn HT, Tumlinson JH, Lewis WJ 1998. Herbivore-infested plants selectively attract parasitoids. Nature 393: 570-573
- Turlings TCJ, Tumlinson JH, Lewis WJ 1990. Exploitation of herbivore-induced plant odors by host-seeking parasitic wasps. Science 250: 1251-1253
- Turlings TCJ, Loughrin JH, Röse U, McCall PJ, Lewis WJ, Tumlinson JH 1995. How caterpillar-damaged plants protect themselves by attracting parasitic wasps. Proc Natl Acad Sc USA 92: 4169-4174
- Turlings TCJ, Berney, B 1998. Effects of plant metabolites on the behaviour and development of parasitic wasps
- Dicke M, Gols R, Ludeking D, Posthumus MA (1999) Jasmonic acid and herbivory differentially induce carnivore-attracting plant volatiles in lima bean plants. Journal of Chemical Ecology 25: 1907-1922
- Dicke M, Vet LEM (1999). Plant-carnivore interactions: evolutionary and ecological consequences for plant, herbivore and carnivore. In: Herbivores: Between Plants and Predators. Olff H, Brown VK, Drent RH (eds.), Blackwell Science Publ. Oxford, pp 483-520
Ted Turlings, Université de Neuchâtel, CH, Tel: +41 32 718 31 58, E-mail: Ted.Turlings@zool.unine.ch
Salicylic acid (in Alcacyl and Aspirin) can induce the 'immunsystem' of plants (like an 'active-vaccination'). The plants start to produce defense molecules. Strengthening the self-healing powers of plants – intelligent organic farming can use this approach.
- Kessmann H, Staub T, Hofmann C, Maetzke T, Herzog J (1994). Induction of systemic acquired disease resistance in plants by chemicals. Annual Review of Phytopathology 32: 439-459.
- Kessmann H, Staub T, Ligon J, Oostendorp M, Ryals J (1994). Activation of systemic acquired disease resistance in plants. European Journal of Plant Pathology 100: 359-369.
- Ryals J, Neuenschwander UH, Willits MG, Molina A, Steiner HY, Hunt MD (1996). Systemic Acquired Resistance. The Plant Cell 8: 1809-1819.
- Gen-Ichiro A, Ozawa R, Shimoda T, Nishioka T, Boland W, Takabayashi J. (2000). Herbivory-induced volatiles elicit defence genes in lima bean leaves. Nature, 406: 512-515
- Dr. Lucius Tamm, Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau, Ackerstrasse, CH - 5070 Frick, Tel: + 41 62 865 72 38, E-mail: lucius.tamm@fibl.ch
- Prof. Dr. Thomas Boller, Pflanzenphysilogisches Institut der Universität Basel, CH, Tel: + 41 61 267 23 20, E-mail: Thomas.Boller@unibas.ch
- Dr. Christof Binder, Pflanzenphysiologisches Institut der Universität Basel, CH; Tel: + 41 61 267 23 17, E-mail: Christof.Binder@unibas.ch
- Dr. M. Oostendorp, Novartis in Stein-Säckingen
Most of the time desert-locusts are harmless single locusts, till they suddenly turn into most dangerous swarm-locusts. They communicate with odours. Scientists identified the odours – a solution for this plague seems to exist.
- Deng AR, Torto B, Hassanali A and Ali EE (1996). Effects of shifting to crowded or solitary conditions on pheromone release and morphometrics of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal) (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Journal of Insect Physiology. 42(8): 771-776
- Ahmed Hassanali, ICIPE, Nairobi, Kenia. Tel.: + 254-2-861174. E-mail: ahassanali@icipe.org
Apple-roller moths (Cydia pomonella) love the scent of their females. Synthetised and brought out into the fields, males and females cannot find each other anymore. The apple crop is saved.
- Mani E, Schwaller F, Riggenbach W (1984) Bekämpfung des Apfelwicklers (Cydia pomonella L.) mit der Verwirrungsmethode in einer Obstanlage im Bündner Rheintal; 1979-81. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 57: 341-348
- Charmillot PJ, Pasquier D, Schmid A, Emery S, Montmollin A, Desbaillet C, Perrottet M, Bolay JM, Zuber M (1997). Lutte par confusion contre les vers de la grappe eudémis et cochylis en Suisse. Revue suisse Viticulture, Arboriculture, Horticultre 29: 291-299
- Dr. Pierre-Joseph Charmillot, Station fédérale de recherches en production végétale de Changins,CH, Tel. +4122 363 44 44, E-mail: pierre.charmillot@rac.admin.ch
Reference: David Quist & Ignacio Chapela, 'Transgenic DNA introgresses into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico', 2001, nature, 414, 541-543
University of California - Berkeley press release November 28, 2001
Berkeley – Some of Mexico's native varieties of corn grown in remote regions have been contaminated by transgenic DNA, a finding that has both surprised and dismayed the University of California, Berkeley, researchers who made the discovery.
"This is very serious because the region where our samples were taken are known for their diverse varieties of native corn, which is something that absolutely needs to be protected," said Ignacio Chapela, assistant professor of microbial ecology in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources. In the study, published Thursday (Nov. 29) in the journal Nature, Chapela and David Quist, lead author and UC Berkeley graduate student in environmental science, policy and management, compared indigenous corn with samples known to be free from genetic engineering as well as with genetically modified varieties.
The native corn, or "criollo," samples were taken from four fields in the remote, mountainous region of Sierra Norte de Oaxaca. Control samples that had not been genetically modified came from blue maize grown in the Cuzco Valley in Peru, and also from a collection of seeds from the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca region taken in 1971, before the advent of transgenic crops. Using highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tests, the researchers checked for various elements of transgenic DNA constructs used when bioengineered genes are introduced into a plant genome.
They found no signs of transgenic DNA in the Peru and 1971 seed collection. In the criollo samples, however, four out of six samples tested showed weak but clear evidence of p-35S, a promoter from the cauliflower mosaic virus widely used in transgenic crops. When they sequenced the DNA of the transgenic-positive criollo samples, the researchers found that the CMV promoter matched those used in commercial transgenic crops. The presence of the nopaline synthase terminator sequence (T-NOS) from Agrobacterium tumefasciens, another telltale sign of transgenic contamination, was detected in two of the six criollo samples tested. One criollo sample tested positive for the actual cry-1A gene of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), the insecticidal bacterium that kills pests feeding on corn.
"I repeated the tests at least three times to make sure I wasn't getting false-positives," said Quist. "It was initially hard to believe that corn in such a remote region would have tested positive." Chapela and Quist said the contamination likely came from multiple pollinations over time. They were able to identify the DNA fragments flanking the CMV promoter sequence through inverse PCR tests. Those fragments were diverse, suggesting a random insertion of the transgenic sequence into the maize genome.
"If this contamination was the result of a single gene transfer event, we would expect to find the transgenic DNA in a consistent location on the criollo genome," said Quist.
"Instead, we're finding it at different points along the genome." The researchers first detected the transgenic DNA in October 2000 while working with the Mycological Facility in Oaxaca, a locally-run biological laboratory where Chapela serves as the scientific director. Soon after the initial discovery of the transgenic contamination, Chapela alerted the Mexican government, which then proceeded to conduct its own tests. Reporting the results in a September press release, Mexico's Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources found transgenic DNA in three to 10 percent of the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca maize, supporting the results of the UC Berkeley researchers.
Just how the contamination occurred remains a puzzle. Agricultural experts and proponents of biotech crops maintain that corn pollen is characteristically heavy, so it doesn't blow far from corn fields by the wind. Chapela said this assumption may need to be reevaluated in light of the recent findings in Mexico.
In addition, Mexico imposed a moratorium in 1998 on new plantings of transgenic maize. The closest region where bioengineered corn was ever known to have been planted is 60 miles away from the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca fields, said Chapela. "It's not clear if the moratorium was poorly enforced, or if the contamination occurred before the moratorium was enacted," said Chapela. While new plantings are banned in Mexico, it is still legal to import biotech corn into the country. "Whatever the source, it's clear that genes are somehow moving from bioengineered corn to native corn," he said. Such a prospect is almost certain to fuel the already contentious debate over the use of genetically modified crops. Proponents of transgenic agriculture say biotechnology helps to increase crop yields for feeding a rapidly growing world population, improve the food's nutritional value and reduce the use of pesticides.
Opponents say not enough is known about the health and ecological effects of biotech crops and that the risks outweigh the benefits. To date, more than 30 million hectares of transgenic crops have been grown, according to "Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture," a white paper published in 2000 by a group of seven national science academies around the world, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London.
Genes from genetically modified crops that spread unintentionally can threaten the diversity of natural crops by crowding out native plants, said Chapela. A wealth of maize varieties has been cultivated over thousands of years in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca region, providing an invaluable "bank account" of genetic diversity, he said. Chapela added that genetically diverse crops are less vulnerable to disease, pest outbreaks and climatic changes. "We can't afford to lose that resource," said Chapela.
Genetic engineering as corporate technology: Pesticide Action Network Updates Service, USA, September 10, 2001 and www.etc.org
See also: Jules Pretty & Rachel Hine, 'Reducing Food Poverty with Sustainable Agriculture: A Summary of New Evidence', 2001, University of Essex, GB
Thread to skylark: A.R.Watkinson, R.P.Freckleton, R.A.Robinson, W.J.Sutherland, 'Predictions of Biodiversity. Response to Genetically Modified Herbicide-Tolerant Crops', 2000, Science, 289, 1554
See also: Alternative to patent system: The OAU's Model Law. The Protection of the Rights of Local Communities, Farmers and Breeders, and for the Regulation of Access to Biological Resources.' J.A.Ekpere, OAU, 2001